Modern medical devices use expandable means (EM) and in particular inflatable balloons for achieving different operations. Examples of such devices can be found for instance in WO 2010/016054.
WO 2010/016054, which is incorporated herein by reference, relates to an enteral feeding device that enables the administration of nutritive solutions directly into the stomach of a patient. The device disclosed therein significantly reduces the risks of aspirations from the alimentary tract into the respiratory system and allows deglutition of biological fluids secreted in the upper part of the digestive system into the stomach. The middle section of the feeding device of WO 2010/016054 comprises at least three expandable means surrounding a flexible tube, which can be inflated or deflated by introducing or draining a fluid into/from the internal volume of the expandable means. Some of the purposes of the expandable means of the device disclosed in WO 2010/016054 are as follows: 1) blocking the progression of the gastrointestinal fluids in the esophagus, 2) allowing the redirection of the gastrointestinal fluids towards the stomach, and 3) enabling the swallowing of the oropharynx fluids naturally secreted by the patient.
However, there is currently no simple way to determine whether the inflation of an expandable means at a specific location of the lumen of a biological channel (such as in the example above) has an incidence on the pressure exerted by the interior wall of said biological channel at other locations. Thus, it would be useful to have a simple method to monitor the pressure exerted by the interior wall of a biological channel at different locations along the length of the biological channel.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for monitoring the pressure exerted by the interior wall of a biological channel at different locations along the length of the biological channel.
Further purposes and advantages of this invention will appear as the description proceeds.